Ghandruk Tour

An hour and a half by road from Pokhara to Nayapul, then three to four hours on foot up the Modi Khola through Birethanti - where the ACAP checkpost is - and Kimche. The walking is a steady climb on a stone-paved trail with the river below and terraced hillside above, and there are tea shops at intervals. Ghandruk sits at about 2,000m and is the largest Gurung settlement in the Annapurna region: slate roofs, stone-paved lanes and terraces dropping away below towards the river. What stops people at the top of the climb is the view - Annapurna South and Hiunchuli filling the head of the valley, with the fishtail of Machhapuchhre alongside, all of it very close. Overnight in a village lodge.

A full day in and above the village. The Gurung museum in the old settlement is small and genuinely good - traditional dress, farming tools and the domestic interior of a Gurung house - and the upper village above the lodges is where the older architecture survives. Gurung men have served in the British and Indian Gurkha regiments for over two hundred years and almost every family here has a connection to tell you about, often first-hand. In the afternoon there is an easy walk up towards Kimrong for a wider view of Machhapuchhre and the Annapurna Sanctuary entrance, or simply the terrace and the mountains. Evenings in Ghandruk are quiet and cold.

We walk out by the same trail, which is mostly descending and takes three hours or so back to Nayapul, with a stop for lunch at Birethanti by the river. From Nayapul it is an hour and a half by road to Pokhara, arriving mid-afternoon with the rest of the day free. For anyone with more time, Ghandruk is also the first night of the Annapurna Base Camp and Poon Hill routes, and the itinerary extends naturally in either direction from here.